‘Sold house, took loans’: Mukul Choudhary’s father recounts sacrifices behind son’s rise
JAIPUR: Mukul Choudhary’s father couldn’t go to bed on Thursday night and by Friday afternoon, his voice was still crackling with energy. “I didn’t sleep the whole night. All I did was attend congratulatory calls. Mukul played such innings in the domestic matches too, so I am aware of his abilities. He played similar knocks this season in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Delhi and Mumbai as well,” Dalip Choudhary told TOI from Gudha Gorji, a small town in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan.
Dalip’s drive was fueled by the ghost of his own untapped talent. “I wanted to play cricket, but it could never happen due to lack of financial resources,” he said. In 2015, the family of four uprooted their lives and moved to Sikar, a district 65 km away, as Dalip pursued his dream of making Mukul a cricketer.
“In Sikar, I enrolled my son in the SBS Cricket Academy, where he trained for four years. We faced a real financial crisis, so in 2017, I sold my small house, which we had built a few years earlier. It fetched me Rs 21.11 lakh. I also took bank loans and borrowed from relatives and friends, which eventually pushed my debt to Rs 3 crore,” Dalip said.
It was at the SBS Academy that the right-hander transformed himself from a medium-pacer to a wicket-keeper. During an academy match, the team was in desperate need of a goalkeeper and Mukul was asked to step in. As a devoted fan of MS Dhoni, the young lad had no problem changing his role for good.
In 2020, after Mukul had already represented Rajasthan at the U-19 and U-23 levels. His father realized it was time to move to a bigger city. “We moved to Jaipur. He now trains at the Aravali Cricket Academy. He has always stayed with the family. His mother and younger sister live with him in Jaipur and I visit them often,” said Dalip, who now runs a hotel and real estate business.
“To give him more exposure, last year I took him to meet Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj and Rohit Sharma’s coach Dinesh Lad. After watching Mukul bat, Yograj sir told me that my son will play for India,” the father said proudly.
